A Sensible Guide to Preparing for the Zombie Appocalypse

Zombies approach the Channel 7 building in Chicago, by Eric Ingrum

World War Z.  Z-Day.  The Zombie Plague.  The Horde.  There are countless names to describe this horrifying scenario.  The dead coming back to life to feast upon the remains of the living.  One bite, and you’ll become one of them?  What hope do we have?  We fight back, of course!

Realistically, the threat of a zombie apocalypse is minor to non-existent, but it does make for an interesting mental exercise (and great marketing. I’ll get to that later).  How would one prepare to survive against a horde of creatures immune to pain, cold, fear and rational tactics?  The steps used in preparing against such an onslaught are similar to what the ‘preppers’ plan for every day… a major catastrophe that destroys the political, social and even physical world around us.  Surviving in this nightmare will be tricky, but let’s plot this out logically.

To begin, let’s set some ground rules.  The Zombie horde is coming.  We find ourselves in an urban environment, with all of the modern amenities to choose from.  In this guide I’ll deal with equipping only ourselves, with a concentration (Of course) on weaponry.  If you’re looking for a serious preppers guide to surviving any apocalypse, I’d check out my brother in law’s blog at ponderingsbyian.blogspot.ca for some no-nonsense advice.  The zombies we face are of the standard, shambling, mindless type.  I’ll discuss faster types, but we’ll stick with them being unintelligent for now.  Plain Ol’ shoot-em-in-the-head Zombies.  Before we talk about what we SHOULD carry, let’s talk about what we definitely SHOULD NOT. Continue reading

An Introduction to Ballistics for Geeks, Writers, and Geeky Writers: Part 1 of Many

To the point

Photo by BWJones (Bryan Jones) on flickr

So what is ballistics, and why should I care, right? What could this possibly have to do with me, you ask?  It is an interesting science, and one that I have devoted many hours to studying. My goal in writing this down is simple: To keep learning as I write, and to share what I’ve learned with you all. I’m not trying to turn you all into ballisticians or long-range shooters, merely to give you nuggets of knowledge to tuck away in the back of your brain. I’m also not claiming to be the be all and end all expert on all matters related to physics, guns and ballistics.  I’m merely your guide on this journey, through a topic I happen to study passionately.  I’ve spent years studying and working in this field, and have learned a lot, with decades of learning still ahead of me.  As a teacher of mine once said after a long, hard course, “Congratulations, you now know enough to be dangerous.

Plus, you never know when in your next story/book/audio drama one character might pick up a gun, and one of these little nuggets of knowledge will shove their way to the front of your brain and help complete a scene in a believable way. Or at the very least, maybe your next game of trivial pursuit will ask you some physics question and you win! Let’s dive into it then, and see where we end up.

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